Lian-Li Tyr X2000 HTPC case is a towering choice

Most home theater PC cases aim to make a computer look as much like a DVD player as possible. They typically lay on their sides like an old-school PC or a VCR and they hide most of the inputs and outputs on the back so that you don't get distracted by too many lights and other doohickeys when you're looking at your TV.

The Lian-Li Tyr X2000 computer case certainly hides away all the nasty bits on the back of the unit. But unlike its peers, the X2000 is a horizontal, tower case. It's still pretty sexy looking, but it's probably not going to fit on the any shelf on your TV stand.

The case has plenty of room for the media center components of your dreams though. You can slap in up to six SATA hard drives, and there's space for 8 PCI cards. Throw in a couple of dual-tuner cards, a zippy little CPU and a ton of storage and RAM and you could theoretically build a little monster capable of recording up to 16 TV shows at once. You know, if you can find 16 things worth watching during the summer.